iGod

Ye, this looks so good. Hope to see more soon!!

Since it's the big summer holidays in Harbourtown, the city gets flooded by tourists. And they all have one aim, seeing the cathedral and take a stroll around the center. But there's more to Harbourtown than just the obvious. Harbourtown is the home of 3 football clubs, of which two play in the "Premier Division" and one plays on regional level. "Harbourtown FC" and "Westend Harbourtown SC" play for the "Premier Division". Currently at places 3("HFC") and 7 ("WHSC") in the season 2009/10. "Birmington FC" is only in the middfield of the "North Regional Football League" but looks foreward to get under the top 5 this time. Harbourtown homes the "Richmond Rugby Union FC". But that's not the only thing. Harboutown is also the home to a number of quite famous athletes which use some of the sport grounds for their summer training at which visitors can watch them, free of charge of course. And there are lots of museums and other means of wasting time which can be done in the city when you're on holidays. But to get holidays, people need to go to school and work. So now the spotlight is on the schools. You have already seen the "Royal Harbourtown University" which is more of a middle class university for all students, disregarding of it posh name. But the real pride of the city is the "Ryburn School of Economics", short: "RSE" which is a university. It is, well, pretty new only beeing founded in the 1950's it already educates the next leaders of the economy and is a big name within the University ranking. There is also "St. Samuel Boys School", one of the oldest schools in the country. Founded in 1874 it is dedicated to give the youth of famous and important persons the education they need. At the moment, the "Zavi Open Air" takes place in the city. This open air concert tries to combine famous artists like this years headliners "Red Hot Chili Peppers" or "Queens of the Stone Age" with yet unknown bands from Harbourtown and the region. But let's have a look: This is one of the most choosen postcard pictures, showin the "St. Sebastian Church" and "Ryburn Inn" in "Freeman" And this is the "RSE", it is located a bit outside the city to ensure a good learning enviroment for the students. "Zavi Open Air" in "Northwood". Due it's still day, it's not very crowded yet, but wait for dusk... Another tourist attraction, "Northwood Chapel" once just a small chapel but then just grew and is now the 4rd largest church in Harbourtown but it is commonly refered to as "The Chapel". Most visitors enjoy visiting this chapel at nighttime because of the illumination of it. "St. Samuel Boys School", was actually build in the "6 Oaks Wood". But it partially got surrounded by the town as it grew bigger. But it also has advantages to the school that the city grows around it. Like getting a new athletics field sponsored by the city. The small building with the red roof is the one of the old government buildings but got converted to the "Federal Constitutional Court", in front of it is the "St. Caroline Minster" and the "Harbourtown Museum of Engineering" home to the largest collection of steam engines world wide. This is "Mosside Park". Even though it is very small, it attracts lots of visitors every year who are astonished by one of the oldest wood rollercoasters in the country. "Westend" and "Morton" with the "Troy-Van-Leuween Park", the largest park in the city with a new amphitheatre. You can also see the "West Cementary" and a part of the "Westend Stadium", home to the "WHSC". First of all, I know what it looks like: but no, I am not trying to make it the biggest, largest, greates and whatever else best city on the Simtropolis CJ section (probably can't even compete with most of 'em anyway). But I just show you the best bits of the city. Of corse there are booring bits and just lame city parts, but more to them next time. Secondly, I tried some Paint.Net on some of the pictures and I like the results I got, however I would like to know what you think about them. Any suggestions? Hope you like it so far, as per usual, comments are more than welcome and appreciated.

Over here in Europe you will hardly find any grid whatsoever. Not even in the largest cities like London, Berlin or Paris. The cities just grew without anyone planning them out properly. But then, you're also right, there are a lot of problems involved with this. Like the way to narrow streets or simply the confusion in finding a certain street. It's like with the names of the streets, if for example, I drive around in New York City on the 5th Ave. I know that I will eventually cross the 31st Street. And that also pretty much just works with grids (Ok, I don't know if thats right but you get my point). But if you try to find Goswell Rd. whilst you're in Cheshire Rd. in London you gonna have a hard time. But also, for me, grids just look quite unnaturally. Of corse I use them in my city planning but mostly in the centre or in the suburbs. Yes, if you go around in the suburbs which have been build in the 60s and 70s, they are build in a grid-style as well.

Well, personally, I would like to go in with the game camera way deeper into the city like you can in CitiesXL. I would love to see my cities from a pedestrian perspective, or what all the others suggested, to some extend sounds awesome, but anyway, this ain't a..."I wish for this..." thread by EA I think there won't be a "real" SimCity anymore. As y'all said, EA now got their cash cows in terms of simulation games (Sims3 & 2, and SCS), so why bother developing a game which ain't for the masses, but just for some really interested people. To be fair, SC4 is more of a niche product, and it takes long to familiarise with the matter and until you get the possibilities of earning money, taxes, schools, hopitals, industry, etc... sorted out. Whereas SCS is pretty self explaining and it's pretty easy to build a "massive" city (and is was the worst buy in my gaming history! SCS I mean...why I spend money for it, I don't know) but it simply doesn't really catch my attention because it's more the game you would give to a 6 year old or so, and that's not only from the graphic point of view. But I really doubt that there will be coming a SC5, or at least not soon. Also, with all the custom contend, you can make your own game experience. Look at all the CJ's, not one city is like the other they all have just the main game in common. And for me that's what I really like about SC4. It simply is what all (well, not all really) game-developers say that they try to archieve but no one wants to do. It is the game where you can do what you want. Were you get free content via the web, you can just decide what you want and don't want in your city and simply the freedom to do whatever you like. So for me, in terms of city building, there is at the moment nothing better than SimCity4 + Rush Hour and I am not really sure if a SimCity5 can fulfill or even exceed the expectations of us fans! My opinion about it: I would be glad if SC5 came out, but I am not eagerly awaiting it.

Well, in Germany most of the new build high-speed tracks are build next to or inbetween the Autobahn lanes. Which can sometimes be quite funny because over here you can actually have a decent race with the trains. It's quite impressive if you're going around 240 km/h and look at the people next to you in the trains.

Mate, the british style suburbs are just brill. Keep the good work up.

@Knapp14: (very germanish name there) Ye, sometimes I lay out new quaters and suddently old ones get abandoned even if they are closer to the center and the jobs. And then, after a while the whole process turns around and they move back into the center. I gave up on trying to solve this problem. Well, sort of. But as long as the city still grows I am kinda ok with it. But maybe you could give me some advice? @rusty_777: what's the cheers for mate?

Since Harbourtown is a very old city, the change of the citys appearance is a process which is taking place nearly every day. When people walk around the city, they always realise that some buildings are missing and new ones are appearing. (Some refer to it as the "Plop-Phenomenon"). But most changes take place over a long periode of time. Like the renovation of the old "Josh-Homme-Airport". It was first build in 1938 as a military and, to a small extend, public airport. In 1958 the business got taken over by the new founded company "JoHoPort AG" it got extended to coop with the number of passengers traveling through this airport. In 2007, the number of passengers traveling through this airport was 53 million passengers and demand still rising. Therefore the "JoHoPort AG" decided to extend the airport once more and give it a total new look. The two terminals were designed by different architects so they both looked different to each other. This was to show the multicultural way of life lived by many "Harbourtownians" and to give passengers a bit eye candy whilst waiting at the Airport. But thats not the only major building project taking place in Harbourtown. There is, for example, the new "Autobahn 84" which is going to connect "Lambeth" and "Tottenville" with the "A93" and "Mosside Park" and should therefore help the tourism industry to grow even bigger. Also "Briarsfield" gets a major renovation. Old, abandoned buildings get dmeolished to make place for new and hopefully clean industry. This is the construction side of Terminal 2. They got rebuild one after another. Once Terminal 2 was finished, they rebuild Terminal 1. And this is what it looks like today. In actual fact, only the Terminals got renovated, the actual layout of the runways remained the same. This is a stretch of the "A84", under construction near "Queens Park" The new construction side in Briarsfield. You can still se some of the remaining walls of some of the old heavy industry buildings. Close to the "Candid Tunnel" they bury fibre glas cables to attract the high tech industry. The last one of the "Zavi Towers" being build to provide the middle class with flats near the city centre. Near "Montag Stadium" the "Georgetown Line" gets extended. For the moment just to "Queens Park High Street", and later probably to "Residence" and "Mosside Park". Well, thats it for now. Comments are, as per usual, appreciated and welcome Hope you enjoy this little update.

Harbourtown has three principal sources of income. Industry, Banking & Trade Sector and the Tourist Industry. Since the Industry is decreasing, many jobs now depend on tourism and the banking & trade sector. In 1954, the City introduced the "Society for the continuance of Historical Heritage in Harbourtown". This society ensured that there were no more demolition of historical buidlings going on in the city to make room for high rises. They are also supposed to make sure that the city will keep it's unique style. But how did people know which ones are the historical buildings? Therefore the Society created the "Historical Heritage" insignia. This one was put on every building which was of historical relevance and which are supposed to remeber further generations of their roots. Only once such a building was demolished. In 1974, the old roman theater was threaten to collapse. Therefore it got demolished. The government was then undecided what to do with the empty space next to the river and right in the city centre. A competition was opened where every architect could hand in their ideas of what to duild there next. The winner was a joung architect from Bolivia. His idea was to build a TV tower. When it was finished in 1983, the "Harbourtownians" were first very sceptic and thought it might destoried the city skyline, but it soon became a magnet for tourist from all over the world and is now a landmark of Harbourtown. The "Harbourtown TV Tower" is the second largest building in Harbourtown, straight after the "Montag Oil Company Tower" and tourists enjoy the view over the city they can get from here. But there are more places in Harbourtown which got the "Historical Heritage" insignia. For example, the old Harbour, the cathedral, churches, random buildings and whole quaters, like "Queens Park". But there is also a lot of architectural highlights in the city which attract every year thousands of visitors. Like the "Central Bank Building", "Grand Station" or the quater "Walford". So, let's take a little sightseeing tour. "Queens Park" with the french style architecture. "St. Flanders Church" can be seen right at the front. At the back, next to the Residence is the "King Samuel II Church". Room prices in this quater are sky-high, but tourist love visiting this spot of Harbourtown. Some say that it is like sitting in a cafe in "Montmatre" and they just love to look around and enjoy the spirit of this quater. "Georgetown" with the "Montag Stadium", which is more famous for it's architecture than for it's football team. It is located right in front of the gates of "Queens Park". The "Harbourtown TV Tower" which is located next to the "Royal Harbourtown University". The red wave at the top of the antenna is supposed to symbolise the relationship of the "Harbourtownians" to the "Ryburn River". Next to the University is the "St. Andrews Church". In the front is also a new high-rise beeing build. "Temple", now that is a historical quater. On the left is the "Queens Hotel Harbourtown", next to it the old Townhall, now the Ministry of Education. On the right you can see "St. Michael", the oldest and largest evangelic church in Harboutown. On the opposite side of the road is "Benz Plaza" with the roman "Temple of Mars" and the "Speakers Balcony" and the "Sendling City Gate". On the left of "Benz Plaza" is the "Sara-Phillips-Memorial-Park" with "Munich Gate" and a the "Statue King Edward IIX". The old Harbour. Still attracts lots of criminals at night time, but it's a beautiful sight in at night, especially from "Richmond". This is one of the architectural highlights in Harbourtown. The new "Congress Centre" in "Birmington" which spans the "A93". Next to it is the old "Washington Gate", showing were once the old city walls have been. "City & Old Ville" with the Pedestrian zone, the new townhall and the "Harbourtown & Ryburn Exchange". On the right is the "Central Bank Building". A quater which is very famous for it's shops and creativity. Also it is close to "Grand Station" and the University and "Temple", so you will see all sort of people around here. This is Walford. It is a pretty new quater and was designed after the example of Venice. The channels are supposed to aerate the structure of the quater. This is "Northwood". Just a example of what suburbs look like. Also you can see "Nortwood Church". This is though, a qutie old quater in Harbourtown, it was only beeing build in the 60's. And this is just a small map which shows you the different quaters of Harbourtown. So, sorry about my night picture fetish, but I hope this Update satisfys all of you. Comment are, as per usual, welcome. More to come soon, and sorry for the late Update, poeple gotta go and do some work once in a while.

Hello everyone. I'm 20, living in Munich (Germany) but study in Manchester (UK). I am seriously addicted to SC4 and came here to get some decent buildings and things. But I also discovered the joys of CJ's and the community. So you gotta hear more of me soon^^

Really like this city. Like the touch you gave it

That looks quite interesting so far. When are we going to see more cariboo? Good effort!

Königsberger Klöpse! That CJ looks fantastic. I especially like the way you designed "Viktualienmarkt" and the suburbs. But where did you find the "Allianz Arena"? But mate, good effort. Hope there's more to come. PS: If you need help with your german, let me know lol

This time it is just a simple update of what's going on in the city. No history this time, but next time ther'll be some more. I wasn't quite satisfied with the old underground map so I made a new one. I also included a network map of the Suburban trains system. The new map includes some extras. It is now easier to see were you can change to other systems. It also includes new lines and some of the existing lines got expanded as the city did so to. This is the Network of the Suburban train system. It is still sort of empty, especially in the outer regions. This is because the region as a whole is still in development. The interchange from A8 to A93. At the moment there is also a new bridge under construction. The Grand Station, located in the heart of the city. At the right you can see the "Cross City Tunnel" entrance. This one is actually a "real" tunnel, and not one of the street <-> underground converters. I build it once most of the central city was finished, so this was quite a task. Sort of my own little "Big Dig Project". But it improved the traffic through the city a lot. Charlotte Station. This station is an example how some stations were builf in the city when the Underground was build. The open building provides the network with continous fresh air. Now these kind of stations are not build anymore, but the old ones remain like this because of the historical heritage. That's it for now.

Since Habourtown was and still is, to a certain extend, a very industrialised city transportation always played a major role when it came to build new parts of the City. Especailly for the thousands of trucks going to different directions each day, a good street network was provided. But also the people were supposed to get to their working places and offices. Therefore in 1860 the first underground was opend. By that time the underground was still a steam engine and more like a small train than an efficient way of mass transportation. Beacuse of issues with providing the network with fresh air and to get rid of the steam, the first electric underground line was installed in 1883. Since then the network increased and with it the City did so too. Towns and new suburbs had access to the new means of mass transportation. In addition to that, a new suburban train network was developed just a few weeks later to connect also towns and villages which are a bit more distant from the city. Despite this, also the new developed Autobahn made a contribution towards the development of the city. The first Autobahn stretch was build between the centre and the new build Airport of Harbourtown. It was build in 1917 and is still used today. But for international travel, the train network and the airport finally gave Harbourtown a place on the maps of the Nation and far beyond it's borders. The International Airport is a Hub for all sorts of flight, including cargo as well as passengers, and is ranked under the Top 5 in the World. The "Grand Station" is a major terminal for most railway companys. Everyday, more than 500.000 people are getting of or taking connections to other travel destination in the Station. Together with "Aylestone Station" and "Easton Station", Harbourtown is in the possesion of 3 very large Stations. Busses and underground are managed by HTA (Harbourtown Transit Authority). The Suburban Trains are managed by HRC (Harbourtown Railway Company). Even though both systems are different and managed by different companys they are working hand in hand. The Airport is in private ownership and the Grand Station is substitued equaly by the Railway companys, the City and the County. Let's check on them, shall we? These are the major roads within the city boudaries. Not all exits are shown, as well as not all streets are shown. The 92, also known as "Sir-John-Way", or "Cross City" is regularly congested. Especially at the rush hour traffic is just horrific and it can take up to 1 hour to go from one end to the city to another. The oldest Autobahn can be seen at the left. Now "A8" is one of the most important connections for international traffic. Harbourtown also acts as a terminal for the Autobahn 8, 9, 92 & 93. This is the current version of the Metro or Underground network. The oldest line is "Mosside". When it was first build, it went from "Waterfront" to "Aylestone Station" and provided passengers from this station with easy access to the city centre. The newest Line is "Walford". It opend in 1998 and provides "Walford" and "Wulf's Bush" with access to the city over the "Ryburn River". This map does not include the Suburban train network, so that's why there's no connection to the Airport. This is "Harbourtown International Airport". It now hast 2 Terminals. On the right you can see the Cargo Terminal and above it the A8. Just an impression of the Airport at night time. And here is Grand Station with it's 20 odd platforms. The tunnel entrances on the right are a direct connection for the Suburban trains to the Underground network. They have different track widths so therefore the Suburbain trains have a tunnel system next to the actual underground. "Trianlge" and "Aylestone Station" which just had a renovation. This is one of the main stations on the East - West and North - Habourtown lines. It also provides a direct shuttle train service to the airport. Also, just for notice, the tracks on the left are for Suburban Trains only. This is "Northwood". A typical example of what a suburb in Harbourtown looks like. At the top you can see "Northwood Station", terminal for the suburban line "3". You can also see what a suburban train looks like. They are, unlike in other citys, two-storeyed to coop with the number of commuters.

Ok, I will go with cariboo's list, one after another. - Sea walls:                                  PEG CDK Industrial Style,  PEG RTK3, CDK REC - pegasus - Crane things (^_^):                   They are actually from Somy's Harbour Set, but you will only find it on the original Japanese website. - Pink foundation Building:        Buckingham Palace - frogface - Stadium:                                     Estadio Santiago Bernabeu - jec - Cathedral:                                  Notre Dame - Debussyman, but you won't find it on stex. Mail me for the link. - Oil Company:                             RNP Small Oil Refinery - tag_one @sjclangdale: which station? Thanks for the comments, appreciate it.

Harbourtown (actually "The Royal City of Harbourtown") was first mentioned at around 100 BC by the Roman General Quintus Aurelius as Portus Cavere. The small village was an important military base during the Roman Empire. Despite it's military significance it soon became an important port of transshipment for goods from all over the world. The number of inhabitants soon began to rise as people from the surrounding villages came to the town to find work at the docks or as a trader. Some decades later, the romans were gone, the town was renamed as Harbourtown. At 1702, the Queen of this beautiful country visited the town on a summer trip. She was so amazed by the large forests around the town that she decided to build a summer residence outside the city. At this point the town was suddently in every newspaper and gained publicity everywhere. Rich townspeople started to settle around the residence to have something in common with the Queen and to show off their wealthyness. Soon middle class and less well off people moved aswell into the city to get some luxury for themselves and on the hope to find work. Once they were there the industry followed and so Harbourtown had a little industrial revolution for itself and soon became the heart of the regional and national industry. In 1730, the Cathedral was finished and the Queen renamed the town again in "City of Harbourtown" which is what it's still called today. More religions tried to build churches for themselves in the city and the old roman temples were in the way. A lot of them were demolished and just a few roman buildings remained in the inner city. The major religions soon became Catholicism and Evangelism which, even now, causes regular collision between these two partys. By that time, also the new trainstation was build which is still the terminal station for numerous National and International railway lines. Today the city is well known for the exclusive architecture of it's churches and the inner city. The remaining roman temples are still attracting tourists from all over the world into the city and the lare pedestrian zone is famous for its diversity which still remains people of the old days. But the once so proud industry is slowely decreasing and beeing pushed ou of the city boundaries by commercial highrises and the larger growing suburbs. The habour also starts to get abandoned since the trade by ship isn't used as much anymore. The lower class gets problems finding jobs and the city can't only rely upon banks, especially since the credit crunch. Unemployment rises and crime levels are up by 30%. How will the city encounter this problem? But for now, some impressions of the city. An small section of the harbour today with the heavy industry. And here is what already happend to a large part of the harbour complex. On the right is the new quarter "Richmond", and on the left the developing commerical disrtict, also known as "Wheat Dock". At the bottom is the remaining industry. The Residence with it's old walls. The quarter inside the walls is called "Queens Park" with the royal cemetary, the Conservatory which houses a number of very rare roses and orchids. Also here you can see two churches whereby the brown is the oldest chuch in the city. On the left is the another quater, "Freeman". This one is very popular under the rich inhabitants and tourists, and not only because of it's red brick roads. The old, catholic, Cathedral ("Church of our Lady") with the Pedestrian zone at the top and the St. Barbara Column. At the left you can see the regularly congested "James-Hetfield-Square" and underneath it, the entry of the "Cross-City-Tunnel" in the "Sara-Phillips-Memorial-Park". This is a good example of what often happens in Harbourtown: Skyscrapers next to historical buildings. This is an overview of "Central & Waterfront". You can see the Cathedral, the roman temple of Mars and the "Benz Plaza", the old City Hall, now the Ministry of Education and at the far right the second largest, church "St. Michael", evangelic. The "Grand Station" is located at the far left and at the very top is "Aylestone Station". And here is one of the last ramining heavy industries. "Montag Oil Company", the second largest Oil producer nationwide. That's it for now. Gonna work on my photo technique for the next entry (like No Grids, No Symbols, etc...). Hope you enjoyed it so far. Leave comments, positive as well as critique, happy about everything really. Coming up: - A map of the metro and suburban train network - Pics of the city in total - Pics of the historical parts of the city - & more, more, more...